Molecular characterization of Spodoptera litura Nucleopolyhedrovirus (SpltNPV) from Bogor using late expression factor-8 gene

Abstract

Spodoptera litura Nucleopolyhedrovirus (SpltNPV) is a biological agent successfully developed as a bio insecticide to control S. litura. NPV is host-specific. Therefore, it only infects particular insects. NPV identification is needed so its use can be right on target. Molecular Identification by PCR has been used to characterise Baculovirus. Ac17, lef-2, polh, p35, and 16s RNA, are genes that are often used to identify NPVs. However, the lef-8 gene is the most conserved gene for NPV identification. We conducted this research to study SpltNPV molecular characterisation through nucleotide and amino acid using the lef-8 gene. The NPV isolate was propagated in the Insect Pathology Laboratory. We use the CTAB method to purify the NPV DNA. Forward TCCAAACGTCGATTACG and reverse GACAGGCAGGTTTCTAA primers were used to amplify the lef-8 gene of SpltNPV. The molecular character was used to describe the relationship of SpltNPV isolate with the other NPV reported in GenBank. The lef-8 gene can be used to identify SpltNPV. Based on nucleotides and amino acids sequence of the lef-8 gene, the homology of SpltNPV Bogor has the highest similarity to SpltNPV of German isolates of 99% and 94%. Based on the left-8 gene sequence phylogeny, the Bogor SpltNPV isolate is a member of the same group as the NPV on Spodoptera and Amsacta.